Iroquois Beaded Bags with a Metal Frame and a Selection of Recently Uncovered Old Photographs

On July 8, 2014 I made some changes to this posting.

Non-Native purses have been around since at least the 16^th century.   They are known by many names; among them the pocketbook, the purse, chatelaine, the handbag, and the reticule. There was also a man’s travelling bag called a handbag or satchel, although this was a piece of luggage but during the 19^th century, the term “handbag” came to describe a larger version of a woman’s purse. The earliest handbags that were designed for women featured compartments, a sturdy handle, metal frames and fastenings all inspired by men’s travelling bags. By the mid-19^th century, Berlin woolwork purses with floral and geometric design were also at the height of their popularity. But of all the bags that have come in and out of fashion over the years, perhaps none has been more cherished than the beaded bag.

Sandy Levins, the director of programming at the Camden County Historical Society, wrote: Beaded bags, whether handcrafted or commercially produced, have been in vogue in North America for well over 200 years and in Europe for much longer. In the late 1300s, the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer described one in "The Miller's Tale," the story of a love affair between an Oxford student and a carpenter's wife. Of the female character he wrote: “By her belt hung a purse of leather tasseled with green and beaded with Italian beads…."

The earliest beaded bag was usually knitted in a drawstring style called a reticule, which also became known as an “indispensable” because it developed a universal popularity almost overnight. So popular was the reticule, it became an absolute “must” for fashionable ladies in 19th century Europe where the Empress Josephine, internationally known for her sense of fashion, carried a reticule with her at all times. Romantic figures, pastoral scenes, and flora and fauna became common themes rendered in the tiniest of beads.

Between 1820 and 1830, beaded bags supported by metal frames came into vogue. Coming primarily from France and Austria, the frames were made of everything from pinchbeck, an alloy of copper and zinc made to look like gold, to tortoiseshell. Chains, often formed of decorative, ornate links, were attached to the frames. 

Figure 1 – A metal frame for a beaded bag from the late 19th century.

Figure 2 – A non-Native bag embroidered with beads and with a metal frame. Late 19th - early 20th centuries.

Figure 3 – A non-Native Native bag embroidered with beads and with a metal frame. Late 19th-early 20th centuries.

Figure 4 – A non-Native bag embroidered with beads and with a metal frame. Dated 1846 in beads although  the frame is from the late 19th century.

During the first few decades of the 19^th century, purse design was at its height. Napoleon’s wife Josephine was a purse aficionado and designers worked tirelessly to please her and her court with an endless array of purses. Unique shapes, materials and construction methods were a hallmark of the time and it’s during this period that purses with metal frames came into being.


Occasionally, we come across Native made beaded bags that have the same metal frames that are found on European bags which raises the question; were they originally designed into the bags by Native artisans because they were fashionable, or were they added later by someone else? Paula Higgins, a member of the Antique Purse Collector's Society and the co-author of a book on antique and vintage purses titled A PASSION FOR PURSES has shed some light on this. She informed me that the purses pictured in this posting, that have a metal twist clasp, all date after the 1870s. Collectors of antique purses have been aware that many purses, which would include those made by Native artisans, were mounted or re-mounted on later frames. It was a common practice as framed purses gained popularity in the late 19th century. So essentially, the owners recycled the bags and put them on more contemporary frames. This practice continued on into the early 20th century. The only exception is the bag in the Daguerreotype in figure 12. Paula has informed me that this frame, which is barely visible, has a chain which is classic 1840s and seen on many purses from that period. These frames are shaped like an eyebrow but with less of a curve and it is made of steel, as is the chain. So this frame is contemporary to the bag pictured and might have been added by the Native artisan who made the bag.

Figure 5 – An Iroquois beaded bag with a metal frame. The bag is from the 1830s; the metal frame is from the late 19th century. 

Figure 6 – An Iroquois floral bag in the Niagara style with ovate florals and a metal frame.
The bag is circa 1850; the metal frame is circa 1920.

Figure 7 – An Iroquois floral bag in the Niagara style with elongated leaf motifs and a metal frame. The bag is from 1855-1860; the frame from the late 19th century.

Figure 9 – An Iroquois floral bag in the Niagara style with both ovate florals and elongated leaf motifs and a metal frame. The bag is from 1850-1855; the frame is from the late 19th century.

Figure 10 – An Iroquois floral bag in the Niagara style with both ovate florals and elongated leaf motifs and a metal frame. The bag is from 1850-1855; the metal frame is from the late 19th century.

Figure 10a – Detail of the metal frame in figure 10. 

Figure 11 – A rare example of a Mi’kmaq beaded bag with a metal frame. The bag is circa 1840s; the frame from the late 19th century. Glass beads sewn onto red wool serge of the type seen on Canadian military uniforms. The beads are strung on horsehair.

Figure 12 – Daguerreotype. Late 1840s to early 1850s. The subject is holding an Iroquois beaded bag with a metal frame at the top. 

In July of 2011, I did a posting that illustrated a collection of 19^th century images of women and young girls who were photographed with an Iroquois beaded bag.

http://iroquoisbeadwork.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html

These old images testify to the prestige and the prevailing taste for Haudenosaunee beadwork during the middle decades of the nineteenth century and it speaks to the especially high regard Victorian women held for these purses, an appreciation that would contribute to the preservation of the beaded bags now so prized by collectors.

 I’m always on the lookout for these old images and below is a new group that has surfaces since the previous posting. 

Figure 13 – Daguerreotype – 1840s. The young girl has a Mohawk style beaded bag. See figure 14 for an example of a similar bag. I originally dated this image to circa 1860 but Karen Augusta, a textile expert, thinks the clothing style the young girl is wearing could be as early as the 1840s. This would push back the dating of this style of purse by at least two decades.

Figure 14– Beaded bag, possibly Kahnawake Mohawk, 1840s-1860s. Similar to a bag illustrated in a document in the research files of the Iroquois Museum in Howes Cave, New York that was collected at Caughnawaga, circa 1860. This bag is similar to the one illustrated in figure 13.

Figure 15 – Hand tinted daguerreotype – young girl with ringlets in her hair and a white pinafore. Mid-1850s. She has an Iroquois floral bag that is similar to the one in figure 16.

Figure 16 – Iroquois floral bag, mid-1850s. Similar to the one in figure 15.

Figure 17 – A rare Daguerreotype of three children in fancy dress. Fancy dress is what costume parties were called in the 19th century. They were immensely popular and many had dress-up themes from earlier decades or centuries. This image is hard to date because the costumes are from different time periods. The young girl wears a circa 1850 dress. The boy on the right may be wearing a Renaissance outfit which would be a bit later. So this could be 1850s - 1860s. The young lady has a Mohawk beaded bag similar in style to the one in figure 18.

Figure 18 – A Mohawk style beaded bag with similarities to the one in figure 17.

Figure 19 – A carte-de-visite from the Civil War. There is a two-cent revenue tax stamp on the back that is dated August 14th, 1864 – likely the day the image was taken. The photographer was H. A. Upthegrove of Crown Point, Indiana. The young girl with the bag is identified as Matilda Farwell. She has an Iroquois beaded bag that is quite similar to the one in figure 20.

Figure 20 – An Iroquois beaded bag that is quite similar to the one in figure 19.

Figure 21 – Ambrotype – late 1850s of a well dressed and fashionable young woman with an Iroquois floral bag that is decorated with elongated leaf clusters. Her bag is similar to the one in figure 22.

Figure 22 – An Iroquois beaded bag. 1855-1860. Similar to the one in figure 21.

Figure 23 – Early 1860s Ambrotype. This is a rare post mortem image of a child with an Iroquois beaded bag that is similar to the one in figure 20.  Post mortem photography was in common use in the 19^th century as a way to memorialize a loved one. Since mortality rates were very high during this period, especially among children, these photographs served less as a reminder of one’s mortality than as a cherished memento to commemorate the deceased.

Figure 24 – A lovely circa 1860 tintype of a young lady with an Iroquois beaded bag.

Figure 25 – An unusual tinted tintype of a young man dressed in buckskins. He is wearing an Iroquois floral bag. He might be dressed for a play or some other event. What’s with that hat he’s wearing? 

Figure 26 – A later cabinet card that was a copy of a mid-1850s daguerreotype. Both young women have similar Iroquois floral bags.

Figure 27 – A circa 1910 group photograph of four individuals that are decked out in beads. The young woman on the left is wearing an outfit that is quite similar to those offered for sale in the catalogs for the Improved Order of Redmen.  She is also holding a Mohawk box purse with an owl motif. The older gentleman’s trousers are totally beaded as is the young boys vest!

Figure 28 – This painting of the Wykes children was done in 1852 by the Rev. David Bulle of Sidney, Ohio. The young girl on the left has an Iroquois beaded bag. The design on the bag has similarities to the one in figure 29.  Photo courtesy of Marguerite Riordan.

Figure 29 – Iroquois beaded bag. 1840s-1850s. Approximately three inches in diameter.

Figure 30 – This final entry is a rare stone lithograph of the young Black Hawk, the grandson of Black Hawk, late war chief of the Sac and Fox nations. This lithograph dates to approximately 1840-1850. It was made by the American lithographer and photographer Napoleon Sarony (1821-1896) of New York. Sarony began his lithography business in 1843 after an apprenticeship as an illustrator with Currier & Ives. In this image Black Hawk is wearing a beaded Glengarry hat and he has a bandolier across his chest which likely supported a large bag. Old images of individuals wearing a Glengarry are quite rare and I have seen less than a handful over the years. This one is exceptionally rare and testifies that what is generally seen as souvenir or tourist beadwork was also worn and highly regarded by Native people as well.

If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5.

Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers.  A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women.

In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art.

My thanks to Karen Augusta for helping me date some of the old images. 

http://www.antique-fashion.com/Antique-Fashion/home.htm

How I Create a Portrait

I've often been asked how I go about creating one of my portraits. I've been painting portraits of people for close to fifty years and over that span I have experimented with different methods and approaches until I came up with the procedure I currently use. Basically, I work on a sheet of 30 x 40 inch Strathmore 500 paper. It's a heavy weight, 4-ply paper that takes a lot of abuse and though it is excellent for pencil drawing, it will also hold up well with ink, watercolor and acrylic paints. Since I work in a mixed-media, these are all mediums I use when creating a painting.
The first step (facing a large, blank sheet of paper) is always the most daunting.  Even after fifty years of doing this I still find that blank page of paper intimidating. But once I start to draw out the basic form, things start to flow. In this posting, I will detail the most recent painting I completed of Cayuga/Tuscarora raised beadwork artist Mary Annette Clause.

I prefer to work from photographs that I've take of my subjects as I work at odd hours and can't expect folks to be available to me when I'm in the mood to work. So working from photographs is the best approach for me. I generally start with the eyes and move out to the face and then to the surrounding areas until the basic drawing is done. Then I usually wait a few days before proceeding to consider the design and make changes. 

Once I start adding color it is almost impossible to make changes, so the design has to be carefully considered before moving ahead. Once I'm satisfied with the design I slowly begin to add color.

This is a deliberate process as I work in glazes or transparent layers of color that I painstakingly apply, over and over again to slowly build up the color. The beauty of working in transparent glazes is that you never fully cover up the white of the paper so this gives the color a luminescence that would be impossible to achieve with opaque paint. I think of it as sneaking up on the final effect. I don't work with traditional watercolors but rather use water color pencils that I lightly apply to an area - then I go over all the pencil strokes with a wet brush which dissolves the pencil strokes leaving a transparent watercolor wash. By working with the watercolor pencils, it also gives me a degree of control that traditional watercolor lacks. Of course, that's why some artists like working in watercolor, because the final effect is not always apparent and sometimes you end up with a happy accident. But I don't like accidents so  prefer to control the process from beginning to end.

I always work the background and the person's clothing first, saving the face and hands for the end. This makes for an eerie work progression as I am always staring at a blank face throughout the process. But there are technical reasons why I do this.

The backgrounds and clothing are usually painted but I do the faces in graphite pencil because this affords me a level of detail that I can't get any other way. Often a person's hair hangs over their clothing or something in the background. It would be almost impossible to draw the face and hair first then try to paint the background around it. So doing it in this order makes things a little easier and I can draw directly over the applied color in the background. You can even draw over a surface of acrylic paint but erasing a mistake is tricky so you need a sure hand when doing this. 

This is about forty or fifty hours into the process and I still have quite a way to go.

The background is not done yet but it's coming along. Here I've started on the beadwork fringe along Annette's collar.

Here the beadwork is developing to the final stage. When I do beadwork on a black surface, I've found that I first have to do it all in white, then go over it all again several times in color. It's the only way I've found to give the beadwork some luminescence. Painting the colored dots I use to create the beadwork lose this luminescent quality if they are painted directly onto a dark surface.

Here the background color is developed a bit further and I've started doing some of the shading in the face. This part of the design doesn't begin until I am about a hundred hours into the project.

The face and hair are further developed to give it form and texture. The next image is a detail of the hair and you can get an idea of the dot technique I use on the flat areas of color in the background.

The dots in the background are to give texture to that particular surface element. I use a similar treatment on the clothing for the same reason.

The piece is nearing completion now. Below I've done more subtle detailing in the face, hands and clothing and I've added a few more layers of color in the background.

The next step is to paint a complimentary border on the piece (this saves on having to mat it). Then I draw the black border between the image and the mat with India ink. This is a slow and deliberate process as a mistake here could ruin the piece.

Once the border in applied I do some final detailing and that's basically it in a nutshell. The whole process involves somewhere between 150 and 200 hours of work, spread out over a six to eight week period. You can see the finished portrait on my website along with Annette's biography.
http://www.gerrybiron.com/pages/new_work/10_mary_annette_clause.html